National Republicans
‘People of Earth!’
What do Marco Rubio and Larry Hall have in common? They made the mistake of giving their party’s response to the State of the Union and State of the State speeches, respectively. Inevitably, this ends up looking like a hostage tape or the speech given by the leader of space aliens who just invaded…
Read MoreOne-Trick Pony
Like a bull seeing a red cape Karl Rove lowered his head and horns swinging, charged straight for Cole Porter’s adoring but unhappy wife;— as soon as actress Ashley Judd (who starred in De-Lovely) became a possible Senate candidate in Kentucky Rove had put out an ad out saying, “Ashley Judd’s an Obama-following, Obama-loving, radical…
Read MoreReasonable and Petty
I settled into my chair, rocked back, opened a book, and a few minutes later Obama’s measured voice floated across the room saying John Boehner ought to delay the Sequester, then Obama explained how government ought to do more for people with less and it’s only fair the well off pay a little bit more…
Read MoreOlder and Wiser
After Tea Party candidates rolled to victory in 2010 they headed for Congress to cut spending, and late one night, six months later, President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner announced they’d made a deal to pass the biggest annual spending cut in history. Now, two years later, it turns out the cuts were…
Read MoreObama’s Edge
Thanks to the 2012 campaign and Mitt Romney, President Obama has found his voice. That gives him a big advantage over Republicans the next two years. For all his writing and oratorical skills, Obama never found a way in his first term to effectively tell his story – and sell his message. That led…
Read MorePerfectly Clear on Twitter
There’s a full throated debate going on in Washington – Republicans are saying ‘the Sequester’ wasn’t their idea, it was Obama’s idea, and the White House is saying, ‘Obama’s idea! John Boehner not only voted for the Sequester, after it passed he bragged he’d gotten 98% of what he wanted.’ Meanwhile the Republicans, after…
Read MoreComing to America
Gary is taking a break from blogging. Our guest blogger is Tapster Joe Stewart. I grew up in Raleigh, graduating from Athens Drive High School in 1982. The athletic conference (note singular) at the time was the Cap 8 and included (what seemed like) the remote outposts of Fuquay-Varina and Smithfield Selma. I…
Read MoreThe Sooner the Better
Speaker John Boehner probably never meant to end up being the face and voice of the Republican Party – but he’s the man in the room facing Obama so that’s how it is. Last month, just before the House passed the Speaker’s bill to raise the debt ceiling until May, I asked an old…
Read MoreTalking About (Their) Generation
Gary is taking a break from blogging. Our guest today is Joe Stewart. Currently reaching their 18th birthday at a rate of 13,000 a day, the 80 million-strong Generation Y (those born 1982 – 1995) will be the majority of the US workforce and a full third of the voting population by 2015. This…
Read MoreBig Thinking
When it comes to climbing up on a soap box and waving his arms and hollerin’ like a banshee there’s hardly anyone who can hold a candle to Newt Gingrich. But there’s a peculiar trait about people who talk a lot about their ‘bold ideas’— when you boil away their highfalutin rhetoric a lot of…
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